Chris, Mark, Ed, especially:

The only part of my RV-6 yet to buy is the RX-7 or RX-8 engine, EC-2, and
fuel and ignition parts.  (I'm working on the tip-up canopy frame at this
point).  I've been reviewing recent posts re LS1 coils and harness from
www.gmpartsdirect.com and want a sanity check on what I think I understand:

1)  No question that I'll buy 4 GM coils 12558693 from the above source for
23.92 ea.
2)  The harness & connectors:
......a)  From Chris Sunday 13 Jun:  GM p/n 12569111 is a complete 4 coil
harness with connectors to coils and another 7 pin connector (only male
half) to carry wires to-from EC-2 computer.
......b)  From Chris back on Sep 26, 2003 (starts 2  lines down) it appears
that one must buy the female half of that 7 pin connector or replace the 7
pin connector with another connector with both halves.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Sargent" <rv7rotary@knology.net>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2003 6:07 PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] source for LS1 coil harness, $40


> Message Some folks have been asking about a source for the GM connectors
and
> harness for the LS1 coils.  The link below offers the stock GM coil
harness,
> PN 12569111 for $40 + shipping.  Shipping for me was $8.  The source is
> called GMPartsDirect.com.
>
>
http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/results.cfm?addtocart=1&addpartnumber=12569111&
> singlepart=1&partnumber=12569111
>
> Enter the harness part number in the upper-left search window... 12569111.
>
> The local GM parts department recently quoted me $80.50 for the harness
and
> $49 for the 7-pin connector that would take it to the EC-2.
>
> You don't get the female-half of the 7-pin connector with the harness part
> above.  I was planning on cutting off the half of the 7-pin connector
> provided and using an aftermarket, environmentally-sealed 8-pin connector.
>
> Chris Sargent
> Just starting an RV7 for the past 4 years
- - - - - - - end of quoted msg - - - - -
continuing my questions/sanity check:
2) c)  Mark said in his Sunday 13 June e-mail:  <snip> "The GM p/n for the
connector is 12126487" which comes up on the website as "connector" in
"category:  chassis wiring and computer controls".
.........What is this connector?  Is it the female half that Chris said was
needed to mate to the "harness" in 2a) above?

3)  Spark plug wires between coils and plugs:
.....a)  These are separate, not included in the above harness - which only
carries 12v and signals, right?
.....b)  Ed, on Nov 29, 2002, restated some info from "an RX-7 web site":
"The object is to keep the resistance to a minimum without creating any
'noise' which can interfere with some of the computers built into the car.
The stock wires don't offer much in the name of performance and will
increase in resistance with age. For upgrades, we offer two types of plugs
wires; a high performance set suited well for both street and race cars and
a standard, original equipment style set by NGK."
.....c) Ed 29 Nov 02 reported rsch & buying custom plug wires:  "I did some
research on the different types/styles of sparkplug wires (most of it is
simply market hype).  The company and type wire that I though came through
with the most credibility was Magnecor (their site lays out the hype of all
types pretty well).  Their website is ttp://www.magnecor.com  Although they
advertise a Universal Set (you cut and put the terminals and boots on
yourself) they really don't encourage people to buy it as they claim that
cutting and putting terminals and boots on the spiral wrap gnition wires
correctly takes some tools and a bit of skill.

"They will make you up a custom set quite reasonably (I think).  I got four
es of specified length and had the sparkplug boots for the leading wires lue
in color while the sparkplug boots for the trailing wires were black in
color.  The coil ends I specified as black as I don't pull that end off once
installed.  The total cost including shipping was$49.61.  You can specify
whether you want the boots on either end either straight or 90 deg (my plugs
were 90deg boots and coils ends were straight)

"I specified their 8mm Electrosport 80 Metallic Inductance EMI Suppressed
Conducts.  There are several other wire types (like for straight-out racing,
CDI ignitions etc), but I felt that this one was ideal."

....d) Al Gietzen 30 Nov 02 said, "Looks basically the same idea as the MSD
8.5mm wires.  Best price I found on the MSD wires was at www.sdpc2000.com ."

....e) Al Gietzen said 30 Nov 03:  "I talked directly to the MSD tech rep
and he offered to send the LS1 ends at no charge, so I could put them on a
"universal" set from a retailer.  If you are going this route, call MSD at
915-855-7123 and tell them you need the LS1 coil ends for your wires."

....f)  Rusty then said, "MSD-32829, which is the 8.5mm super conductor wire
set for a V8 truck [has LS1coil ends].  All the wires are one foot long,
with works perfectly for me.  This set is red, and was in stock at Summit
for about $55."

.....g)  Ed reported 25 Aug 03:  "I [now] get between 30 and 50 hours on the
Stock Mazda plugs running 100LL 99% of the time.  I found out [prviously]
that having a resistor spark plug wire as well as the resistor plugs
apparently degrades the spark energy sufficiently to limit me to 20 hours on
plugs.  However, once I swapped out the resitor plug wire for the "spiral
wrapped" wire, the life of the plugs appears to have increased.  They don't
burn up or even become heavily fouled."

End of summary of what appear to be "best practices/best parts" for ignition
system.  I guess my only question is about the connector to the EC-2
computer system (2b & 2c way up near top of this e-mail).  Chris, did you go
ahead and cut off the 7 pin male connector half and put on a sealed 8 pin?
Have a name and part number and source to suggest?

David Carter



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